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August 8, 2011

Rockwell announces: Extraordinary production of 373 carats in one day at Saxendrift; Finalization by DMR of Section 11 cession: South African Government grants rights for Tirisano Project

by Sam Savage

VANCOUVER, Aug. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - Rockwell Diamonds Inc. ("Rockwell" or
the "Company") (TSX:RDI; JSE:RDI, OTCBB:RDIAF) announced today that its
Saxendrift mine produced a windfall day's production on August 2, 2011
and stated it had received confirmation of the Section 11 cession by
the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) for its Tirisano acquisition.

An extraordinary day's production at Saxendrift on Tuesday August 2,
2011:

On Tuesday August 2, 2011 373 carats were recovered at Rockwell's
Saxendrift mine representing approximately half of the mine's budgeted
monthly production in a single day. This is not only a record at the
mine, but the highest daily production ever achieved within Rockwell's
five year operating history. Among the stones recovered were four large
stones weighing 180, 94, 43 and 34 carats.

"Rockwell's competitive advantage in the diamond world is the regular
production of large high quality diamonds and although recoveries such
as recently experienced at Saxendrift are rare they enhance the
profitability of our mines." explains Campbell. "Saxendrift has a
similar diamond distribution to both Wouterspan and Niewejaarskraal,
which are next in a pipeline of development projects that Rockwell
plans to bring on stream using improved diamond recovery processes."

Finalization of Section 11 documentation at Tirisano:

Rockwell is pleased to announce that the last outstanding conditions for
the completion of the Tirisano acquisition have been fulfilled. The
senior debt which was provided by the Industrial Development
Corporation was restructured in July 2011 and the Section 11 cession
approval from the DMR was received on Friday August 5, 2011.

Rockwell can now take ownership of the mining rights at Tirisano and
bring the first two streams (production lines) of the newly built
processing plant into commercial production which is planned for the
end of the third quarter.

"We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to the DMR for
diligently following up on the process to ensure that we could complete
our acquisition and unlock the potential of this mine," explains James
Campbell, CEO, Rockwell. "Not only will Tirisano be an important
operation in Rockwell's portfolio but it will create more than 200 jobs
once it is in full production, contributing to the socio economic
development of the Ventersdorp region and more specifically the
economic upliftment of our BEE partners, the local Mogopa community."

About Rockwell Diamonds:

Rockwell is engaged in the business of operating and developing alluvial
diamond deposits, with a goal to become a mid-tier diamond mining
company. The Company has three existing operations, which it is
progressively optimizing, two development projects and a pipeline of
earlier stage properties with future development potential. Rockwell is
also at an advanced stage of completing the acquisition of the Tirisano
property.

Rockwell also evaluates merger and acquisition opportunities which have
the potential to expand its mineral resources and production profile
and would provide accretive value to the Company.

No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information
contained in this news release.

Forward Looking Statements

Except for statements of historical fact, this news release contains
certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable
securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized
by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe",
"anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that
certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Although the
Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking
statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not
guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may
differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
in forward-looking statements include uncertainties and costs related
to exploration and development activities, such as those related to
determining whether mineral resources exist on a property;
uncertainties related to expected production rates, timing of
production and cash and total costs of production; uncertainties
related to the ability to obtain necessary licenses, permits,
electricity, surface rights and title for development projects;
operating and technical difficulties in connection with mining
development activities; uncertainties related to the accuracy of our
mineral resource estimates and our estimates of future production and
future cash and total costs of production. In particular there can be
no assurance that refinancing funds will be available to Rockwell on
acceptable terms or any terms at all.

For further information on Rockwell, Investors should review Rockwell's
annual Form 20-F filing with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission www.sec.com and the Company's home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com.